- See also: Blood magic
Codex text
Let me correct you, apprentice. While it is true that blood magic is woven through the history of Tevinter, there are good reasons, quite aside from the Chantry’s sermons, that such arts are now frowned upon. Consider the ancient magisters who once attempted to map the Fade itself. A worthy goal, perhaps, but a costly one. When their spells exhausted their lyrium supply, the magisters spilled the blood of countless slaves. To what end? The shifting nature of the Fade made the effort futile, and so much death left the magisters open to possession by demons. Wasteful!
Some still idolize Tirena of the Rock, who used blood magic against the Qunari during the Steel Age. They say she cut her flesh on the shore of Marnas Pell as the dreadnoughts sailed in, turned her spells against their crews, and boiled the very blood in their veins. A terrifying display, to be sure, but against Qunari? It only made them more determined when they besieged the ports of Carastes.
And what of Magister Calanthus, that fool who believed he could make himself the “Ascended Man” with blood magic? Thirty-three slaves died in that rite, and Calanthus became an abomination so horrific that his apprentices tore out their eyes at the sight of him.
You quote the example of the lovers Crescens and Seraphinian. Yes, Seraphinian offered his own blood to cure Crescens of her wasting disease, and Crescens lived a long life. But if the noblest use of blood magic still calls for the death of a good man, is that not enough reason to reconsider?
—Letter from Magister Aesthia to her apprentice, 7:71 Storm